1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to aircraft communication and guidance and, more particularly, to airport transportation markers for directing air and ground airport traffic.
2. Related Art and Prior Art Statement
An airport is a place provided for the arrival and departure of aircraft, usually providing refueling, maintenance, repair, storage, and other facilities. Early airports, which were brought into being as the first aircraft flights were made in the early 1900's, consisted of wooden ramps and cleared downhill slopes which gave a smooth surface for acceleration to take-off speed. The basic function of an airport remains the same today, namely, to provide a strip of ground or paved runway along which an aircraft can gain the required air speed for it to obtain a lifting force from the aircraft wing equal to the weight of the total aircraft.
In the early days of aviation a large, open, grass-covered field, known as a “landing field,” was the typical airport. The early aircraft were sensitive to wind direction, and it was important for them to be headed into the wind for both take-off and landing. These early aircraft were light enough to be supported by grass turf. In the 1920's and 1930's aircraft became heavier and required hard surfaces for operation. They were still sensitive to crosswinds, and the later airports provided several runways to minimize the crosswinds effect during take-off and landings.
As aircraft designs have been improved and as airplanes have become larger, heavier, and faster, they have become less sensitive to crosswinds. Modern transport aircraft have crosswind landing and take-off capabilities far in excess of those possessed by aircraft before the tricycle landing gear was initiated. Turbojet transports are certificated for 30- to 40-mph crosswind components. As a result, the need for multidirectional runways has been reduced.
With the growth of air traffic in the 1940's and 1950's came the subject of the number of runways necessary to provide sufficient capacity for high traffic volume areas. In the late 1950's a number of airports were equipped with dual runways to permit simultaneous landings and/or take-offs by two aircraft. Other configurations have included layouts where the runways radiate tangentially from the terminal area located in the center of the airport. The increased growth of air traffic since the 1950's has been met with an increased growth in the number of runways and the complexity of runway layouts.
Each runway should be served by a number of high-speed turn-off lanes. These are not “taxiways” in the earlier accepted sense of the word but rather high-speed “roll-out” lanes. It is essential that roll-out be accomplished with the minimum use of brakes and blasts of power. The spacing of the roll-out lanes should permit turn-offs at speeds of 60-70 mph. The controlling requirement is that the landing aircraft must clear the runway before the following aircraft reaches the last safe “go-around” position on final approach. Taxiway patterns from the entrance to the apron area to the take-off position should permit a smooth flow of traffic with no opposite direction paths and as few crossing paths as possible.
Runways and taxiways, which are often together referred to as “airport traffic ways,” must often be closed to air and ground traffic for periodic maintenance and servicing. When an airport traffic way is closed, the closure must be communicated to air and ground traffic to prevent air and ground traffic from inadvertently accessing the closed area. The closure of an airport traffic way is often identified with the application of a marker to the designated airport traffic way, which is relatively large and easy to visualize by air and ground traffic. Although skilled artisans have provided the art with numerous examples of runway/taxiway closure markers, existing markers are either difficult and cumbersome to install, require an excessive amount of time and effort to install, are difficult to construct, or do not incorporate adequate anchoring structure. Given these and other deficiencies in the art, the need for continued improvement in the art of runway/taxiway closures is evident.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an airport air and ground transportation marker for an airport traffic way.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an airport air and ground transportation marker for an airport traffic way that is easy to construct and easy to install relative to an airport traffic way.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an airport air and ground transportation marker for an airport traffic way that utilizes fluid ballast bladders for anchoring the marker in place relative to an airport traffic way, and which provides superior resistance to wind disruption and which resists impact damage.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an airport air and ground transportation marker for an airport traffic way that is durable, and easy removed after use.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide an airport air and ground transportation marker for an airport traffic way that requires no physical modification to the airport traffic way in order to anchor it in place.
Yet still a further object of the present invention is to provide an airport air and ground transportation marker for an airport traffic way that requires no fasteners between the marker and the airport traffic way in order to anchor it in place.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a convenient, reliable, and economical method for closing runways and taxiway to air and ground airport traffic.